rity of these
disturbers of the peace were not in actual distress, and he made no
secret of his opinion that their object was not merely intimidation but
plunder. 'I feel,' were his words as the autumn advanced, 'as if I was
at the head of a provisional government in a half-conquered country.'

It is easy to assert that Lord Clarendon took a panic-stricken view
of the situation, and attempts have again and again been made to
mitigate, if not to explain away, the dark annals of Irish crime.
The facts, however, speak for themselves, and they seemed at the moment
to point to such a sinister condition of affairs that Lord John Russell
felt he had no option but to adopt repressive measures. Sir George
Grey stated in Parliament that the number of cases of fatal bloodshed
during the six summer months of 1846 was sixty-eight, whilst in the
corresponding period in 1847 it had increased to ninety-six. Shooting
with intent to slay, which in the six months of 1846 had numbered
fifty-five, now stood at 126. Robbery under arms had also grown with
ominous rapidity, for in the contrasted half-years of 1846 and 1847
deeds of violence of this kind were 207 and 530 respectively, whilst
outrage in another of its most cruel and despicable forms--the firing of
dwelling-houses--revealed, under the same conditions of time, 116 acts
of incendiarism in 1847, as against fifty-one in the previous year.
The disaffected districts of Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary made the
heaviest contribution to this dismal catalogue of crime; but far beyond
their borders though with diminished force, the lawless spirit
prevailed.

Mr. Spencer Walpole, in his standard and authoritative 'Life of Lord
John Russell,' has shown, by an appeal to his correspondence with Lord
Clarendon, how reluctant the Prime Minister was to bring forward a new
Arms Bill. He has also made it plain that it was only the logic of
events which finally convinced the Prime Minister of the necessity in
any shape for such a measure. Mr. Walpole has also vindicated, at
considerable length, Lord John from the familiar charge of having
adopted in power the proposals which led to the overthrow of the Peel
Administration. He lays stress on the fact that the Arms Bill, which the
Government carried at the close of 1847 by a sweeping majority, was, to
a noteworthy extent, different from that which Sir Robert sought to
impose on Ireland twelve months earlier, and which the Whigs met with
strenuous and